Personal narratives can be powerful venues for understanding human experiences. In this paper, we tell the story of Lutanyani, a Black South African multilingual teacher and author of supplemental reading materials in a marginalized South African language. Through various word images, we convey the role of language, in particular written language, in Lutanyani's life. For Lutanyani, writing serves as "a healing process" in two ways: (1) as a linguistically empowering venue that affirms and shifts his linguistic identity from outsider to insider, and (2) as a backward- and forward-looking means to reconcile his past and reconstruct a message of hope for intermediate-grade students throughout South Africa. This study has implications for classroom practices in the USA as well as development work in international settings. (Contains 2 notes and 2 tables.)